My time was largely about getting signs from point A to point B this weekend, but managed to make a big find for my collection.

Since my work chores were done mid-morning, my wife and I meandered back from the West river region of the state, and stopped in a couple of antique shops on the way back.  We hit one ship where as you walked in, stuff was piled high with no real organization, and my wife immediately voiced “here we go,” knowing that this was my kind of shop.  While I was pawing through a box of comic books, my wife pointed out a frame of ribbons hanging on the wall.. and it was clear I’d hit the jackpot.

Not only were there three Mitchell for capital silk ribbons, there were three Ribbons which appear to be for Coe Crawford, Attorney General, US Senator, and our 6th Governor.  All of the ribbons appear to be from the 1903-1904 era, a time when Crawford would have likely ran for Governor in the primary, only to lose to Samuel Elrod, before his next run for the office where he was successful.    Someone had sewn them together into a decoration, where it appears to have stayed since that era, as some of the backing fabric was incredibly brittle, but it protected the ribbons which are all still very supple and in great shape. And in good enough shape to survive being separated, as I picked them apart thread by thread.

I could have lived without them being trimmed up to be equal length, but they would often be trimmed up by the wearer. I suspect someone might have put this together for a rally, and snipped it up for their design.. and then it went into an attic or elsewhere, where it eventually found itself into my hands. Often, silk campaign ribbons found themselves being sewn into a quilt after the campaign was over, and people were looking for fabric scraps, as in this quilt which is held by the Smithsonian..

That’s 432 silk ribbons stitched together and backed with plain white linen. According to the Smithsonian and family tradition, “the Lanes acquired—or were left with—an overstock of ribbons for Mrs. Lane to assemble the quilt.”

My piece was not so well conserved, up against fiberboard in the frame I bought it in. The backing fabric would fall apart in a person’s hands, so I was lucky enough that the wall hanging was easily dismantled, allowing the extraction of some great ribbons, including one of the better Capital fight ribbons I’ve come across:

Always happy to come across another great item showing the richness of our State’s history.

Here’s a funny tale I caught this weekend.

I’m catching stories that the Patriot Ripple Effect group out of Sioux Falls has started kicking people out of their anti-establishment club for various offenses against.. well, I guess we’d say for offenses against the establishment.

Word is they’ve booted at least two local elected officials out, at least one for offenses against the organization such as critical words about the group.

I didn’t realize that the group had grown so large they could afford to start booting out elected officials willing to claim association with them.

Stay tuned.

The South Dakota Republican Central Committee met this last weekend, and made a point to show their support for Governor Kristi Noem as the campaign heats up for this fall..

 

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The Argus Leader is pointing out today that a lot of people are registering to vote… and a lot of them are happy to be Republicans, as registration numbers are soaring:

Between June and August, Republican voter registration went up nearly 4,000 people, a little more than a 1% increase, according to data from the SD Secretary of State website. Democrat voter registration has remained stagnant for the same period in comparison.

and..

At a more localized level, Ben Kyte, the Minnehaha County auditor, said it’s pretty normal to see voter registration numbers trending upward before a general election, whether it be a governor’s race or presidential race.

“It depends a lot on the organization of the party, and some of it has to do with the interest in the election,” he said. “In this case, we have the governor’s election that’s drawing interest from voters that might be inclined to vote Republican.”

When I was younger my dad always said, “Kristi, we don’t complain about things. We fix them.” As Governor, I focus on fixing problems for our state every day, especially when it comes to public safety. I consistently look for new ways to make our communities safer.

I meet regularly with both Secretary Kellie Wasko in the Department of Corrections and Secretary Craig Price in the Department of Public Safety to plan how to continue improving safety in both our prisons and our entire state. Those meetings have paid off in a big way, with two big announcements for our law enforcement officers. In the last week, I was able to approve significant pay increases for security staff in our prisons and our highway patrol troopers out on the roads.

These raises are an investment in public safety for our communities. They will help us to retain the excellent officers that we already have and recruit new officers eager to give back to their communities by protecting their safety every day.

I won’t sugarcoat it: staffing has been a challenge, particularly in our state prisons. The security officers who work in our corrections facilities and the law enforcement officers in the Highway Patrol deserve the same opportunities as all other employees: to take vacations, spend adequate time with their families, and avoid burnout and unnecessary work-related stress. That hasn’t always been the case for a correctional officer at their post or a trooper out on the road. They often miss birthdays, weddings, or baseball games on extended shifts or mandatory overtime. I’m hopeful that these pay increases will help recruit new staff, which will help improve the work/life balance for current employees, too.

There are more challenges left to take on. Many of our prisons need to be renovated, expanded, or completely replaced. This might not be particularly exciting, but new prisons are safer prisons, which will lead to safer communities. New facilities will help us take on these challenges, and I look forward to working with the legislature to accomplish it.

These new facilities will also help us to focus on rehabilitation, assist and counsel inmates struggling with chemical dependency, and improve educational programs so they can leave prison as more productive members of society. Most inmates will someday be back in their communities, so these services are critical. We need more staff – and to improve morale – to accomplish those goals safely and effectively, and we need facilities that are equipped to achieve these goals.

I want you to watch your kids and grandkids grow up in the freest state in America knowing that they will be safe in their communities. I know we haven’t “fixed it” yet (as I would tell my dad), but with these pay increases, we are one step closer to getting it done.

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Having a job isn’t always easy, which I suppose is why they call it “work.” However, you can’t deny the importance of good work ethic. There isn’t any reliable recipe for life success that doesn’t involve a mountain of hard work.

One of the reasons I am proud of my two oldest sons is their strong work ethic. Like many teens, they’re involved in a variety of summer activities. In addition to those activities, my boys work summer jobs—unlike most American teens.

This is the fourth summer that 17-year-old Max has worked at the World’s Only Corn Palace giving tours and working in the gift shop. I recently snuck in to one of his tour groups and was impressed with how good he was. He was funny, confident, and knowledgeable. No matter what questions the group asked, Max was never stumped. If only Washington, D.C. had those kinds of reliable answers!

My 14-year-old Ben spent his first summer working at a fast-food restaurant selling butter burgers near the interstate. Plenty of friends tell me Ben has waited on them or has brought them their food. When I hear he is working hard and wearing a smile on his face, I couldn’t be prouder. He also remembers to tell me what the frozen custard flavor of the day is, which helps me decide whether I want to pick him up from work or ask his mother to do it.

When I was growing up, almost 60% of American teens had summer jobs. In recent years, that number is closer to 30%. While there are a tremendous number of competing priorities demanding time from America’s youth, I can’t help but feel that those who never work during the summer are missing out.

My early work experience at the bowling alley snack bar, as a retail clerk on Main Street, and washing cars at a car dealership brought me skills and leadership lessons I still use. Minimum wage was only $4.25, but the value of those experiences was priceless.

There are a number of ways in which our federal government makes it harder for young people to work. For example, 15-year-olds can play video games until well after midnight, but it’s against the law for them to work past 7PM on a school night. I understand why there are limits on how many hours they can work and the type of positions, but current federal rules are too restrictive.

I’m working on legislation that would right-size some of these regulations. It seems to me that some in the bureaucracy view work as punishment, something we need to protect our children from. But they have it wrong. Work is opportunity. Work is a chance to learn important lessons and build a better life.

I’m proud of my sons and their hard work. I know it will put them ahead in their classes at school, their future jobs, and their life. And I look forward to making it easier for other American teens to do the same. Our children have the opportunity to have a better life than us, but that can’t happen if they don’t have the opportunity to value hard work.

 ATTORNEY GENERAL RELEASES EXPLANATION FOR PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE SOUTH DAKOTA CONSTITUTION ON ABORTIONS 

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota Attorney General Mark Vargo has released the following Attorney General’s explanation for the November 2024 general election. 

The amendment is entitled: A Constitutional Amendment Concerning the Regulation of Abortion. 

Ltr.barnett Ballot Explenation Abortion 8.24.2022 by Pat Powers on Scribd

The Attorney General’s explanation was drafted after a thorough review of the comments received during the amendment’s 10-day comment period. 

State law requires the Attorney General to draft a title and explanation for each initiated measure, initiated constitutional amendment, constitutional amendment proposed by the Legislature, or referred measure that may appear on an election ballot. See SDCL 12-13-9 & 12-13-25.1. 

For more information regarding ballot measures, please visit the Secretary of State’s website. 

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Invest in South Dakota’s Future: VOTE NO 27

Protecting South Dakota Kids (PSDK) is seeking concerned residents statewide to join its grass-root effort to defeat Initiated Measure 27 on recreational marijuana.

Dark money groups and New York Hedge funds are investing millions of dollars to push their liberal agenda on South Dakota. The TRUTH is our families and children will suffer from the irreparable harm that states like California, Colorado, and New York are now burdened with. Suicide rates, homelessness, and crime have skyrocketed in these states, and we don’t want to import these problems to South Dakota. Concerned citizens, healthcare professionals, pastors, educators, treatment providers, law enforcement, and other professionals are urging citizens to get involved and to learn the facts and VOTE NO on Measure 27.

“We need your support as we fight off a well-funded, out-of-state pot lobby that has invested millions presenting half-truths as it touts the “merits” of their product. The fact is this industry seeks to legitimize a harmful drug and acquire access to our kids, our families, and our communities,” said Jim Kinyon, Chair of PSDK.

As a counselor and nonprofit director in our state for more than 30 years, Kinyon knows how critical defeating IM 27 is to the future of our kids, families and communities.

“While New York City hedge fund managers, and the national marijuana lobby having been flooding our state with ad campaigns filled with misinformation, we have studied the unintended consequences of legalized marijuana on states that have previously legalized all pot usage with particular emphasis of our neighbors in Colorado. The facts are startling and should alarm us all but we can still do something about it,” said Kinyon.

An overview of these facts (detailed in “The Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area” program report) include:

• Recreational pot is not a victimless crime. The marijuana industry deliberately“targets children,” developing a customer base for long-term use and profit. Minors have suffered the worst effects from pot usage.
• Adolescent marijuana use is associated with increased depression, suicide and psychosis. The fact that South Dakota set a record high number of suicides last year, it’s imperative that we do not add marijuana to the mix.
• In Colorado, marijuana usage for children age 12 and older has increased 26%. This usage is 61% higher than the national average. Marijuana is found in the system of 34% of all 15- to 19-year-olds who commit suicide.
• Marijuana is the #1 drug associated with child abuse and death.
• The available marijuana today is highly addictive and extremely detrimental to a young person’s brain development, especially in users under the age of 25.

On November 8, South Dakotans will have a chance to defeat Initiated Measure 27. Please help us protect South Dakota Kids by donating today: https://secure.winred.com/ protecting-south-dakota-kids/donate-today

Donations may also be mailed to: Protecting South Dakota Kids, Fred Deutsch, Treasurer, 16452 449th Avenue, Florence, SD 57235.

If you would like to participate in helping us defeat IM 27, please contact Jim Kinyon: info@protectingsdkids.com or www.protectingsdkids.com

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Interesting information coming from SD News Watch & the Chiesman Center. In a poll taken in July, it shows that by itself, recreational marijuana is not as popular as some of it’s supporters have claimed, and it could lose in November:

A statewide poll conducted in late July shows that support for legalizing recreational marijuana for adult use in South Dakota has waned in the past two years and also appears to indicate that a referendum on legalization in November could fail.

The poll of 500 registered voters in July found that 43.8% of respondents support legalization of recreational marijuana, and that 54.4% oppose legalization.

and..

The only registered political committee to oppose IM 27 so far, formed in July 2022, is called Protecting South Dakota’s Kids. 

The group’s chairman is Jim Kinyon of Rapid City, a certified mental health counselor who also serves as executive director of Catholic Social Services. State Rep. Fred Deutsch, R-Florence, is the group’s treasurer, according to state records. The group has not yet filed a campaign finance report.

“South Dakota is coming to our senses; we’re starting to see that this isn’t going to make us free and happy,” Kinyon said.

Read the entire story here.

I don’t know that opposition efforts are as strong as they’ve been in past elections. While Republican officeholders aren’t big on it, there is a sense of ..ambivalence, for lack of a better word. It’s not a hill they intend to die on, and if they have to deal with it in the legislature, they’ll do their job in terms of regulating and taxing it, and they’ll move on.

Which makes the polling results more interesting; in that there’s possibly more opposition than thought.

Given these results, it may also mean that those backing the measure may have to open up their wallets, as there’s a chance they might not be as secure in the results as they had previously thought.

Jackley Announces Search Committee for Director of DCI

Pierre, SD – Marty Jackley announced today the Committee to assist in the selection of the next Director of the State’s Division of Criminal Investigation under the Attorney General’s Office.

“I have often relied upon these individuals for their sound advice on law enforcement issues, and I appreciate their willingness to now assist in recruiting and recommending top candidates for our consideration.  Their task is simple- go find the best candidates to lead the Division of Criminal Investigation that will work with other law enforcement agencies to best protect our communities,” stated Jackley.

The committee members are:

• CHAIR- JIM VLAHAKIS YANTON COUNTY SHERIFF AND FORMER DIRECTOR OF DCI
• MARK BARNETT – FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL AND CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE
• TONY HARRISON-FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE REP. & FORMER PENN CO. SHERIFF CAPTAIN
• DOUG LAKE-FORMER DIRECTOR OF DCI
• MIKE MILSTEAD –MINNEHAHA COUNTY SHERIFF
• BRIAN MUELLER – PENNINGTON COUNTY SHERIFF – ELECT
• DAN NELSON – BROOKINGS COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY
• STEVE SWENSON – LINCOLN COUNTY SHERIFF
• ALEXIS TRACY – CLAY COUNTY STATES ATTORNEY
• MARK VARGO-ATTORNEY GENERAL & PENNINGTON CO. STATES ATTORNEY (Leave of absence)
• JO VITEK –FORMER CHIEF OF THE WATERTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT
• MIKE WALSH-FRATERNAL ORDER OF POLICE REP. AND FORMER MINN CO SHERIFF CAPTAIN
• PAT WEST-MEADE COUNTY SHERIFF-ELECT AND FORMER WEST RIVER DCI AGENT-IN-CHARGE
• BRIAN ZEEB-FORMER DIRECTOR OF DCI

The application process, deadlines and requirements will be posted on the South Dakota Attorney General’s website at https://atg.sd.gov/